During a time of isolation and separation, like many, I have been confined to my flat. Whilst I have felt closer than ever to home, I have been thinking about the spaces I can no longer visit in lockdown, specifically the public space. Some public spaces in London have become desolate; they lack the connection, sounds, objects and traces of people they once had. Travel Glitch is a fictional diary where I document my journeys to the public places where I used to go prior to the lockdown, such as Broadway Market, Greenwich and Columbia Road through the Google Street View. In doing so, the Google Street View is utilised as a mode of enquiry, and a way to speculate different forms of interaction and documentation. The diary is a hybrid of physical, digital, glitch, sound, memory and fantasy, allowing to dissect how surveillance material and orchestrated camera-views generate new type of spatialities. By compiling images from the street view, I investigate and document the techniques of the camera and I explore the intersections between human, architectural and machine perspectives dissecting the public space and human interaction through the lens of street view. Through a comparison of memory and photography to the street-view medium, I speculate a surreal world where we could potentially only experience the public and urban spaces through the lens of the google street view camera. In doing so, my research focuses on the limitations of the google street view software as a medium of documentation. Google street view is normally a mapping and surveillance tool, with the purpose of the collection of data and images. Through intervening within the public space, it compiles data on building facades, landmarks, and surface textures. It forms an archive of the streets of the world. However, this archive of information is an orchestrated perspective. We are limited to the information provided to us within the 360 degree lens. When considering its use for documenting the data of urban cities, numerous mistakes can be found. Unforeseen elements block landmarks and street names, creating a gap within the information. People are sometimes left un-pixelated, breaching their privacy. Moreover, the means of travelling within the app is distorted, with each mouse click moving you forward faster and more bumpy than a human stride. Moving within the software can often misplace architectural features, contort colours, and distort facades and textures. This is through pixel misplacement, warping, pinching, stretching and blurring. Due to its glitchy nature, how can it be used as a means of viewing and experiencing the public space from afar, and what do we lose through this process? TheTravel Glitch challenges the limitations of this omnipresence technology as a means of experiencing the public space, drawing on memory.

Columbia Road, 12:02pm I travelled to another market today. Broadway market. I seem to keep missing the stalls though, I am very unlucky. I haven’t been here in over ten years. The weather is nice, but without the market, seems like any other street in London. At the cafe La Bouche, a place I used to drink coffee in the mornings, I saw a family sat outside. I tried to go inside, but I was not allowed in. I tried to go into another, they also didn’t let me in. The shops all seem to be closed or rude. As its a nice day, I don’t mind, and walked up the street. A large piece of fabric seems to block the street for miles, so I turned around. The sky is an interesting colour today, a colour I have never seen before. It turns from grey to pink, but only in one particular spot. Has the sky always vibrated with the wind?A van blocked my view of a local restaurant, I tried to step forwards but it blocked my path with every step. Is it always this frustrating to travel? There were some unusual features on the buildings of this street. The windows were warped and the glass opaque. A huge scratch above the El Ganso restaurant caught my eye. It seemed to be a freckly red colour. The buildings are so different from what I remember. I checked my watch, it had only been five minutes but feels like a lifetime, so I decided to go home.

Broadway Market, 4:02pm I travelled to another market today. Broadway market. I seem to keep missing the stalls though, I am very unlucky. I haven’t been here in over ten years. The weather is nice, but without the market, seems like any other street in London. At the cafe La Bouche, a place I used to drink coffee in the mornings, I saw a family sat outside. I tried to go inside, but I was not allowed in. I tried to go into another, they also didn’t let me in. The shops all seem to be closed or rude. As its a nice day, I don’t mind, and walked up the street. A large piece of fabric seems to block the street for miles, so I turned around. The sky is an interesting colour today, a colour I have never seen before. It turns from grey to pink, but only in one particular spot. Has the sky always vibrated with the wind?A van blocked my view of a local restaurant, I tried to step forwards but it blocked my path with every step. Is it always this frustrating to travel? There were some unusual features on the buildings of this street. The windows were warped and the glass opaque. A huge scratch above the El Ganso restaurant caught my eye. It seemed to be a freckly red colour. The buildings are so different from what I remember. I checked my watch, it had only been five minutes but feels like a lifetime, so I decided to go home.

Broadway Market, 7:45pm Today I am visiting one of my favourite places, I place I visit often but haven’t had the chance in the year. It is once again a sunny day, no wind, no clouds - are we even in the UK where is the rain?I walked towards the centre form my drop off point, the Cutty Sark. It is actually quite busy, with people in every corner of my eye. The floor beneath my feet seemed to have turned brown and liquidy. It is a like a spillage or puddle of colour. The stream followed me for a few moments and it disappeared. I turned around to see if it was behind me, but it was gone. I carried on my journey to the markets, it was much busier than the other markets.. People were in every corner and the stalls were finally up! The stalls were full of crafts, but I could not go up to them. I was only allowed at the entrance. I am struck by the lack of familiar smells of the food and sounds of people chatting. It almost seems lifeless. The buildings outside the market were very strange, one in particular was completely slanted as if it was to topple over. I stepped forward to see it up close, but it straightened up. I tried to look at my refection in the window, but it was blurry. Perhaps they have a film over the glass? I then began getting tired from the jerky movements all day. I looked at my watch to see it was 8pm, it was still bright outside with the sun shining. It was very strange.